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Elon Musk’s tillade on President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Building” forced House Republicans to respond Wednesday.
GOP lawmakers who spent months praising Musk’s government efficiency (DOGE) efforts are now working to avoid a word-of-war with tech billionaires as they are calling on them to scrap the months of work in support of the new budget settlement bill.
“He didn’t make that easier for the bill,” R-Wis said. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, a member of the group, told Fox News Digital.
He said the bill also has opposition to the Senate. There, at least three fiscal Hawks are calling for deeper cuts than the most recent version passed in the House, rewinding around $1.5 trillion in federal spending over a decade. However, Fitzgerald wondered what Musk’s final game was.
Scoop: House GOP Memo highlights Republican victory with Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was “shocked” by Elon Musk’s criticism of the “big beautiful bill.” (AP News)
“If it really kills the bill, if I get it, he’s not an elected official — but you don’t actually make such a bold statement without Plan B. Obviously, there’s no Plan B,” he said.
House GOP lawmakers mostly showed up agreeing to masks.
“I don’t think he has the same kind of gravita that he did,” RN.C. Rep. Greg Murphy said.
Another House Republican told Fox News Digital, “When he’s not on the side of the president, he doesn’t have the same weight.”
Congressional Republicans are working to pass a mammoth bill that promotes Trump’s priorities on tax, immigration, energy, defense and national debt through the budget settlement process.
The settlement allows the party’s party to stand on a full sideline of the fundamentals of fiscal law by lowering the Senate threshold for passing from 60 to 51 votes.
However, there are rules and restrictions on what can be included in the budget adjustment process. House GOP leaders have said they will attempt to codify the spending cuts identified by the Government Efficiency of Masks (DOGE) through the annual Congressional Budget process.
That had not stopped Musk from unleashing his rage over the bill against money that could already add to the $36 trillion and count of federal debt.
“Call the senators and call the senators, America is not OK to go bankrupt! I’ll kill the bill,” Musk wrote in X in another post.
President Donald Trump urges Republicans to pass his agenda (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The Tesla founder poses a veiled threat to the lawmakers’ seats as well as “will fire all politicians who betrayed Americans in November next year.”
Meanwhile, House GOP leaders and the White House are closing around the bill.
“I want Elon and all my friends to recognize the complexity of what we have achieved here. This extraordinary law – record savings, record tax cuts for Americans, and record profits of all other profits,” R-La.
“We’ve worked on the bill for almost 14 months. You can’t go back to the drawings. You shouldn’t. There’s a great product we offer here.”
But Musk’s comments appear to have created a challenging political situation for the Fiscal Hawk, where GOP leaders made last-minute changes that tightened Medicaid job requirements and green energy subsidies cuts, before they finally voted.
Mike Johnson, Donald Trump wins “big” and beautiful” as budget passes through the house
“I want [Musk] The thing we cheered from the stands before we voted on was that would have helped us, but we were where we were, “Rep. Eric Burrison, House Freedom Caucus MP at R-Mo, who fought for more conservative changes, told reporters.
He stopped asking whether he was worried about the threat of elections from the mask.
“I’m going to do that. I hope Elon stays in this fight, as I’m philosophically alongside him with my efforts to balance this budget,” Burlison said.
Meanwhile, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodie Arlington said he believes masks are wrong, but he has admitted that his opinion is important to at least part of the GOP base.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodie Arlington, R-Texas, said Musk “created a bigger challenge” (via Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Getty Images)
“The challenge is that he is a man he can trust and he is a patriotic service,” Arrington said, referring to Doge. I think he’s just wrong about his comments.
“It’s true that it’s the problem, or that it caused a huge challenge for us. He has a loud voice, so he has a big audience. And, more importantly, it’s a reliable voice. But he’s wrong about this issue.”
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Conservative Rep. Mark Harris, RN.C., said “I would have preferred not to go in the direction he went… maybe it was to encourage Congress to get on the ball with these upcoming rescue packages.”
Meanwhile, the White House was standing by the bill.
“The president already knows where he stands in this bill. He won’t change his opinion. It’s a big, beautiful bill and he’s stuck with it,” White House press chief Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
Elizabeth Elkind is the main reporter of Fox News Digital’s reporting in the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen on Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow me on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to Elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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